


Misconception

by GobletGirl



Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-22
Updated: 2016-10-29
Packaged: 2018-08-15 19:04:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 16,154
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8069086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GobletGirl/pseuds/GobletGirl
Summary: Katniss gets the project of a lifetime at work but what happens when the one person she never expects is also working on the project?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is just going to be a short little story. Four chapters and an epilogue. It's all pretty much written so it shouldn't be too terribly long in between updates. 
> 
> Big thanks to everlylark and papofglencoe on tumblr for their suggestions, help and insight!

“Everdeen, my office now.” Katniss glanced up in time to see the back of her boss’s head as he turned away from her desk. She saw him bark something similar at Jo without breaking his stride. Jo looked to her with a questioning expression. Katniss shrugged and gathered her notebook and pen, trying not to show the nerves that had suddenly taken over her body. She’d heard rumors of a merger and couldn’t help the sinking feeling at being called into her boss’s office. Jo joined her as she passed her desk.

 

“Any idea what this is about?” Jo questioned.

 

“Not a clue. Do you think there is some sort of problem? You’ve heard the rumors, right?”

 

Jo shrugged. “At least if they fire both of us, we have each other to go drown our sorrows with...well, until I find someone to bury themselves inside me, that is.”

 

Katniss glared but said nothing. She needed this job. Not only did she need the job for her own living expenses, but she was also helping her sister, Prim, through medical school. Besides, she actually liked this job. She worked for a large outdoor retailer, Coin Outdoor Solutions, in their marketing department. She felt like she was finally finding her place in the large department, so it would be a huge blow if they were to let her go now. She steeled herself for the worst as they approached Haymitch’s door and Jo knocked. Haymitch glanced at them before motioning them inside.

 

They sat down across from him and waited for him to speak.

 

“Y’all may have heard the rumors, but if you haven’t, we’re announcing later today that we’re merging with Games Unlimited.”

 

Katniss sucked in a breath. This was it. They were getting let go. What was she going to do?

 

“Because of this, there are going to be a lot of changes. They are planning on keeping the name Coin Outdoor Solutions, but they want a new brand to go along with the new company strategy that’s coming from the merger. In addition to a new brand, they want to overhaul the marketing strategy of the company. They told me to pick my two best people to put on the project,” he pointed a finger at the two of them. “You guys are those two. You’re my best workers and you work well together, which is going to be paramount to the success of this project because it’s a long one. This entire thing will probably take upwards of six months. The big wigs want it done by the time the deal is finalized, which is the end of the year. So it’s going to be a long project with a lot of hours, but it’s also great experience and great exposure.”

 

Katniss was shell-shocked. Sure, she had been working her ass off for the past four years and completely deserved this opportunity, but she still couldn’t believe it. Jo’s voice broke through her thoughts, “When does it start?”

 

“Next week. It’s an interdepartmental project. It will be a group of about seven to eight people from various departments across the company. There will be managers involved, but the core group that will be doing the majority of the work will be the staff members chosen by the managers.”

 

“Do you know who else will be on the team with us?” Katniss asked.

 

“All I know is that the project is being headed by Finnick Odair. Nice enough guy. Besides that I don’t have a clue. And frankly it won’t really matter. Whoever they are, you’re going to have to work with them.” He glanced between the two. “So, I am assuming you both want in?”

 

“Hell yeah,” Jo exclaimed.

 

At the same time that Katniss said, “Of course.”

 

“Good. I’ll let you know once I have more details.” Haymitch nodded. “Now get out of my office. And close the door on your way out.”

 

Katniss closed the door as she exited the office. She slowly turned to Jo to see the excitement she felt reflected back at her. “Oh my god. Can you believe it, Brainless? This is huge!”

 

“I know. I honestly can’t believe it. I think I’m still in shock. I thought for sure they were letting us go.” Katniss shook her head as they headed back to their desks.

 

“Well, we won’t be drowning our sorrows anymore, but we will certainly be drinking after work. Tonight. The Hob. Say seven? We can invite everyone, because we need to celebrate!”

 

“I’m there. I’ll text everyone,” she grinned, leaving Jo at her desk to continue on to her own.

* * *

 

This day couldn’t get any better.

 

Katniss was sitting in a large booth at The Hob with the closest people in her life: Madge and Gale, her childhood best friends, Prim, Rory—Prim’s boyfriend and Gale’s brother—and, of course, Jo. All of them had immediately agreed to the night out at The Hob when Katniss had texted.

 

“I’m just so happy for you. You deserve this. Lord knows, you have looked after everyone but yourself for years. It’s your time,” Prim told her, wrapping an arm around her sister’s waist in a sideways hug.

 

Katniss wrapped her arm around her little sister and rested her head on top of hers. “Thanks, Little Duck,” she whispered. She and her sister were extremely close. Their father had died when Katniss was only eleven and Prim was seven. Their mother hadn’t reacted well to losing her other half and had become practically catatonic in the year after his death. Luckily, their next door neighbors, the Hawthornes, had been there to help Katniss. Their eldest son, Gale, had become Katniss’s lifeline during those hardest times. He helped her to take care of Prim and get food on the table when her mother wasn’t able to get out of bed for days at a time. Madge had come along shortly after, and the three had been inseparable through middle and high school.

 

Even during all that time, Katniss’s top priority had always been Prim. She always made sure she had enough to eat and clean clothes. Even when their mother had snapped out of her depression and gone back to work, Katniss still kept a close eye on Prim, constantly afraid of her mother reverting back to her catatonic state. To this day, she was still helping Prim with some of the expenses not covered by scholarships and loans for medical school. Even when Prim insisted she didn’t need any help, Katniss simply couldn’t help it. She had to look out for her.

 

She had gone to college close to home so she could continue keeping a close eye on her sister. That’s where she had met Jo. They were both marketing majors and ended up in a group project together their freshman year. At first, Katniss couldn’t figure out what to make of Jo’s brash and wild personality. But she soon warmed to the girl and they became friends. She could clearly remember the her and Jo had become _real_ friends.

 

_They decided to go out to one of their favorite bars in their college town. Jo had been seeing Brutus for about six months and Katniss had just started seeing a guy named Darius, so they had all decided to go out together. It had been a great night, but when they had decided to leave Brutus had told them he wanted to catch up with some of his friends they had seen earlier across the bar. Jo had easily relented, and the three of them had left Brutus at the bar. They were about halfway back to the dorms when Jo realized she had forgotten her scarf at the bar. Katniss had agreed to walk back with her since it was so late._

 

_As the two walked back into the bar, Katniss had seen Brutus with a woman pinned to the wall in the corner of the bar with his tongue down her throat. Unfortunately, Jo had seen it too. Brutus and Jo got into a huge argument, where Brutus had admitted to cheating on Jo practically since the beginning of their relationship. Jo had been pissed, but once they had gotten back to her dorm room Katniss had seen the hurt her friend had desperately been trying to hide._

 

That was the night Katniss learned there was more to the girl than her tough exterior, and they became best friends after that. They were very similar people in that respect. Katniss had what Gale liked to call resting bitch face and told her she wasn’t the most approachable person in the world. She always said that’s just how her face was and she couldn’t help it. She had grown up so much faster than those around her because of her circumstances and had become a much more serious person because of it. She simply never had the time to be a carefree teenager.  

 

“You know what would make this night even better?” Jo asked her from across the booth. Katniss didn’t like that gleam in her eyes. That look only ever spelled disaster for her.

 

“What?” Katniss asked hesitantly.   

 

Jo’s responding grin made Katniss even more positive she wasn’t going to like whatever she had to say. “If we got you laid.” Yup, definitely didn’t want to hear that.

 

“Jo…” Katniss answered warningly before glancing at her sister, hoping Jo got the point. This was not something they were going to discuss in front of her little sister. Hell, she didn’t want to discuss it at all, but Prim made a handy excuse.

 

Jo rolled her eyes, but before she could say anything Prim spoke up, “Katniss...I am twenty-two. I know you’ve had sex. Geez, you know, I’ve had sex. No need not to talk about it in front of me. I know all about the birds and the bees.”

 

Katniss covered her ears and started shaking her head. “Nope. Nope. You are still twelve years old. Nope. Just nope.”

 

Prim dragged Katniss’s hands away from her ears and said, “Sex.” Her Cheshire Cat grin reminded Katniss way too much of Jo.

 

“You’ve clearly been spending too much time with _her_ ,” Katniss murmured.

 

The table roared with laughter. “Lord, Brainless, you are so pure,” Jo said through her laughter.

 

Katniss grumbled as she got to her feet. “I’m going to get another drink. Get away from you crazy people.” Katniss was sure there was a scowl on her face as she made her way over to the bar. She flagged down the bartender and ordered another drink.

 

As she was waited for him to make her drink, she looked around. She saw another group of people on the other side of the room from where she and her friends were sitting. There were two guys and two girls. One of the girls had long brown hair, and her arm was looped through a man’s. He had bronze hair, tanned skin and looked fairly athletic, from what Katniss could see. And he was extremely handsome. The other side of the booth held a woman with long blonde hair and a curvy figure. But Katniss’ breath caught as she saw the guy sitting next to her. He had ashy blonde hair that was wavy and fell across his forehead. His was laughing and smiling with his group of friends. His arms laid on the table, and Katniss could see from across the room how his biceps and broad shoulders strained the fabric of his t-shirt. He was hands down the most gorgeous guy she had ever seen. As she stared at him, his head turned and they locked eyes. Katniss felt goosebumps erupt across her skin and the hair on the back of her neck stood up. She quickly turned away, embarrassed. She couldn’t believe she had been caught staring and chalked up her reaction to a chill. Definitely just a chill. In this crowded bar. In the middle of summer.

 

Luckily, at that moment, the bartender placed her drink in front of her. Katniss paid for her drink, muttered her thanks, and started the trek back to her table. She decided to risk another glance in the blonde guy’s direction. She looked over just in time to see the blonde women next to him grab his face and plant a kiss right on his lips.

 

She abruptly turned away. Of course the first guy she’d found truly attractive in years was already taken. That was just her luck. Oh well, it’s not like she would’ve actually talked to him. She was so socially awkward it was painful sometimes. That’s probably why Jo wanted to get her laid. She sighed as she neared her table. It was time to put the impossibly handsome man (and his equally attractive girlfriend) out of her mind and enjoy this celebration with her friends.

 

An hour later, Katniss and Jo had migrated over to the dart board. Most of her friends refused to play with her because she had amazing aim, but Jo never seemed to mind. Gale and Madge were still at the table, while Prim and Rory had left about thirty minutes ago. As much as she tried to ignore him, Katniss knew exactly where that blonde man was. She could see him out of the corner of her eye laughing with his friends and girlfriend in the same booth she spotted him earlier.

 

Jo laughed, bringing Katniss’ attention back to her friend. “What’s so funny?”

 

“You. You have been not-so-subtly checking out that guy over there for the past hour. Rethinking my suggestion earlier that you should get laid?” Jo replied, taking a sip from her beer and giving her a knowing look.

 

Katniss took a sip of her drink to avoid Jo’s gaze. Jo clearly wasn’t having any of it, though, as she brought her foot up and lightly kicked her in the shin. Katniss scowled at her, but she merely raised her eyebrows in question.

 

Katniss sighed, “I saw him earlier. He’s a good looking guy, but he’s with the blonde. I saw them kissing earlier, so it doesn’t really matter if I was rethinking your suggestion or not.”

 

Jo looked back over at the table in question. “The one he’s sitting next to? The curvy little thing?” Katniss nodded and took another sip of her drink. “Huh.”

 

Katniss noticed the look of confusion on Jo’s face. “What’s the face about?” she asked.

 

“Well...it’s just that part of the reason I noticed that you were checking him out is because he was checking you out.” They both glanced back over at the table in question in time to see the man quickly look away, as if to confirm Jo’s suspicion. “Are you sure you saw him kissing that girl? Because he is looking over here an awful lot for a guy that’s sitting next to his girlfriend.”

 

“I know what I saw. He definitely kissed that girl. Besides, I don’t think he’s been looking over here that much. Why would he?”

 

“Because he wants to sleep with you?”

 

Katniss gave Jo an unimpressed look. “Jo, he has a girlfriend. You know how I feel about cheating after everything you went through. So, even if he did want to sleep with me, which I don’t think he does, I wouldn’t want to sleep with him.”

 

Jo snorted but didn’t say anything further on the topic. She walked back to the dartboard to get the darts so they could start another game. As she did this, Katniss glanced back over at his table. When she did, she met the eyes of the blonde man. Surprisingly, he didn’t look away, and he gave her a small smile. She scowled and turned back to take the darts Jo was holding out to her. No way he wanted to sleep with her. His girlfriend was right _there_. No, Jo was wrong and putting ideas in her head. She focused on their next game and let the conversation flow away from the man across the bar.

 

“Want a refill?” Jo asked a few minutes later. Katniss shook her head as she focused on throwing the dart in her hand. She let it fly and felt a sense of great satisfaction when it hit the bullseye. She couldn’t help the grin that spread across her face.

 

“You’re a pretty good shot. Where’d you learn how to aim like that?” a deep, velvety voice asked to her right.

 

Somehow Katniss knew who it was before she even turned around, but she slowly pivoted to confirm her suspicions. There he was in the flesh. Lord, he was even more attractive up close. His eyes were the deepest, brightest blue she had ever seen. Her voice caught in her throat. She cleared it before answering, “Archery.”

 

His eyebrows rose in surprise. “Archery, huh? Impressive. I don’t think I have ever met someone who did that.” He smiled at her, clearly thinking a compliment and a smile would get her to fall at his feet. He had that swagger about him that made her believe he was used to women falling at his feet. She wasn’t falling for it, though, and continued to scowl at him. His smile fell slightly as he cleared his throat. “So, I was wondering if I could buy you a drink? Maybe we could talk?”

 

She cocked her head. She couldn’t believe this guy. She may be a bit dense when it came to the opposite sex, but this guy was clearly hitting on her while his girlfriend was right across the bar. Katniss glanced that way, only to see the table he had been sitting at empty. She turned back to him. His face still held a little bit of hope. “Where’d your friends go?”

 

He seemed a bit surprised that she asked about them. “They all had to leave, but I’ve been trying to work up the courage to talk to you for a while. The odds seemed to be in my favor when I saw you alone over here. So I thought I’d take the opportunity.” He gave her another one of his megawatt smiles, but she wasn’t having any of it. So he had waited till his girlfriend had left to make his move. She’d seen this before, and he wasn’t fooling her for a minute.

 

She crossed her arms across her chest. “You know, I think I am good.”

 

His face fell completely at that, but she still wasn't buying his act. “Oh...okay.”

 

“In fact, if you'll excuse me, I was just leaving.” She pushed past him, ignoring his confused expression, and headed toward the bar. Served him right for trying to cheat on his girlfriend. He may look like a god among men, but that didn't mean squat to her.

 

She slid into the seat next to Jo, who was still at the bar, having just gotten her drink. Jo swiveled in her stool to look over at Katniss. “I saw you talking to blondie. How'd that go?”

 

Katniss’s scowl deepened. “He hit on me! The nerve of some guys. Like I didn’t see him kissing some other girl not even two hours ago.”

 

“So you told him to shove it?”

 

“Not in those exact words, but yes. God.” Katniss took a deep breath. “It doesn’t matter. He is clearly a douchebag, so there’s no sense in worrying about it anymore. Plus, the chances of me seeing him again are slim to none.”

 

Jo simply nodded. “Well, Brainless, I think it's about time we call it night. Don’t want to go into work hungover tomorrow. How about we go grab the lovebirds and head out?”

 

Katniss nodded and they made their way back over to where Gale and Madge were still sitting. “True. We both know Haymitch will be hungover enough for the both of us.” Jo snorted in agreement.

 

She discreetly looked around the bar as they gathered their things to leave but didn’t see the blonde man anywhere. Good. With any luck she wouldn’t have to see him ever again.

* * *

 

Katniss arrived at work early the day the project was set to start to go over everything one last time and organize her thoughts before the eight o’clock kick-off meeting. She had even put on her nicest suit jacket, since the kick-off meeting would be with all the managers and top executives at the company. She wanted to make a good first impression.

 

She was arranging all of her notes when she heard someone behind her. She turned to see Jo. “Ready to go?” Jo asked.

 

“Yup. You have all the notes we made last week?” Katniss asked as they started walking toward the elevator bank.

 

Jo motioned to the notebook in her hand. “All right here.”

 

They got into the elevator as it arrived and hit the button for the 12th floor. They made their way to the conference room where they expected they’d be working a lot in the coming months. As they entered, Katniss glanced around the room to take inventory of who was already there. She saw Alma Coin, the current CEO of Coin Outdoor Solutions, Haymitch, and a few other managers, but before she could make a full sweep of the room, a man blocked her line of sight.

 

“Hello there. I’m Finnick Odair, the lead on this project. You must be Johanna and Katniss. Haymitch has told me all about the two of you. I’m very excited to be working with you both,” he said as he smiled at them.

 

Katniss held her hand out, “It’s nice to meet you, Finnick. I’m Katniss.” She swore she’d seen him before but couldn’t figure out where from. It certainly wasn’t around the office—she would have remembered that. No matter how hard she wracked her brain, she couldn’t place him. The gym, the bank, the grocery store...nothing rang any bells.

 

She focused back in on Finnick and Jo’s conversation in time to hear him say, “Well, you both will be working a lot with our lead graphic designer to formulate the new logo and marketing campaign to go along with it. His name’s Peeta Mellark. He’s around here somewhere.” He started to look around the room. Her attention no longer focused solely on Finnick, Katniss’ eyes swept the room. That’s when she saw _him_.

 

The blonde man from the bar.

 

No. Not him. No it couldn’t be. But then it hit her. Finnick looked familiar because she had seen him at the bar last week. Before she could process anymore, the man was heading their way. Why was he heading their way?

 

“This is Peeta. Peeta, this is Katniss and Johanna, the two marketing staff you will be working closely with on this project.”

 

She saw the look of recognition in his eyes, but he didn’t give anything away as he smiled politely at them. However, Katniss swore she saw a slight blush forming on his cheeks. Served him right. Ugh. How was she supposed to work with this cheater?

 

“It’s nice to meet you both.”

 

“It’s nice to meet you too, Peeta,” Jo said as she glanced over at Katniss. She clearly recognized him too. All Katniss could do was nod and try not to openly glower at him.

  
Damn it. This was going to be a long project.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all the fabulous feedback! I really appreciate it. As I am horrible at writing angst, you guys don't have to wait any longer to find out exactly what happened that night.

Katniss dropped her bag and slumped against the door of her apartment. She was exhausted both mentally and physically. The project was about a month in, and Haymitch certainly hadn’t been lying when he had said it would be long hours. She had been working sixty-plus hour weeks to stay on top of everything. 

 

She moved away from the front door into her kitchen and grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge, leaned against the counter. Even though she was exhausted, she had to admit she was learning a lot from this project. Overall, she really enjoyed the team of people she was working with. Finnick was an absolute blast, but also an intelligent guy who knew exactly what he was doing—the perfect person to coordinate the entire project. There was also Mags, who was in her sixties. She worked in the same department as Finnick, and together they relayed the executives’ wishes for for the brand concept . Then there was Beetee and Wiress, who both worked for the budgeting department. They were a bit odd, but maybe that’s why Katniss was instantly drawn to them. They ran the numbers to determine if the marketing project would actually be feasible put into practice. She only saw the two of them about once a week at the update meetings, since their main focus wasn’t the creative side of the project. 

 

Which only left Peeta. She sighed as he invaded her mind yet again. She had seen him almost every day since the kick-off meeting. She, Jo, Finnick, and Peeta spent most of their days together in a conference room batting around ideas and trying to narrow down what they wanted to present at the end of the project. Neither of them had spoken of the night they had met at The Hob. In fact, they had spoken as little as possible to each other. She didn’t want to talk to him because he was a cheater and didn’t want to associate with that kind of person. She assumed he didn’t speak to her because she knew about his cheating ways.

 

She had to admit, though, he really confused her. If she hadn’t met him that night at the bar she would have never guessed, from what she had seen in the past month, that he was someone who would cheat on his girlfriend. Even though they rarely talked about anything other than the project, she had seen him interacting with the rest of the team, and he had seemed like a genuinely nice person. He brought pastries in for the team at least twice a week, which had resulted in their longest conversation to date that wasn’t about work. 

 

_ The first time he had brought in the pastries, she had been standing over them, trying to decide which she wanted when he came to stand next to her. “My favorites are the cheese buns,” he’d said, pointing to the cheesy pastry she’d been eyeing. She glanced over at him. There was only one in the box. “You should try it. I guarantee you’ll love them. I’ve never met anyone who didn’t like them.” He reached down to put the pastry on a plate and handed it to her.  _

 

_ She took the plate from him. “Thanks,” she muttered.  _

 

_ He stood watching her before he nodded. “Go on. Try it.” _

 

_ She wasn’t a huge fan of people staring at her while she ate, but she was starving and the cheese bun smelled and looked wonderful. She bit into it and had to stop herself from moaning. It was the most amazing thing she’d ever eaten. She finished the rest of it in two bites. She only wished there was another for her to eat.  _

 

_ His quiet laughter reminded her of his presence, and she looked back at him a little sheepishly. “I told you you’d love it.” He winked at her and strode back to the table without another word. She had been utterly confused by the entire situation. But ever since then, there were always at least three cheese buns in the box he brought. _

 

A knock at her door brought her back to the present. She yelled, “Come in,” knowing it was Jo and Madge with the take out. The team had their first status meeting with their managers next week, so they had all stayed late this Friday night to make sure everything was ready for the Monday morning meeting. As they had been leaving, Jo had offered to pick up take out and bring it by Katniss’ apartment. She grabbed plates and waters and headed toward the living room, where Jo and Madge were arranging the take out on her coffee table. 

 

“Why don’t you have Netflix already queued up?” Madge asked.

 

“Sorry一got lost in my thoughts and lost track of time.” Katniss grabbed the remote and turned on the TV. 

 

“What had you thinking so much that you lost track of time?”

 

“Just this project,” she replied flippantly. 

 

Katniss saw, in her peripheral vision, Jo give her a questioning look. So she wasn’t surprised by Jo’s next words. “The  _ project _ , huh?”

 

Katniss rolled her eyes. “Yes, the project. What exactly are you implying?” 

 

Jo shrugged. “Nothing. I’m just thinking that you’re thinking less about the project and more about a certain blue-eyed member of the team.”

 

“I wasn’t thinking about Peeta,” Katniss lied. There was no need for them to know she was actually doing exactly that. “To be honest, I probably wasn’t really thinking at all. Just zoning out, you know. I’m exhausted.”

 

“Peeta’s the one you met at the bar, right? The night you found out about this project?” Madge asked.

 

“Yes. The one with a  _ girlfriend _ . So I don’t really know why we’re still discussing him,” Katniss replied.

 

“Maybe because you like him. Stop―” Jo held up her hand as Katniss opened her mouth to refute the claim. “I know you  _ think _ he has a girlfriend but I’m not so sure. We’ve been working with this guy for a month, and he has never mentioned a girlfriend. And I know what you’re going to say, ‘It’s work. Of course, he doesn’t discuss his personal life at work.’ Yet, we hear about Finnick’s fianceé all the time. We’ve heard them talking about their weekends, and not once have we heard him mention this “girlfriend” of his.”

 

“You think I made up that fact that I saw him kissing that woman?” Katniss asked indignantly. 

 

“No, I don’t think you made it up. All I’m saying is there could be a perfectly good reason for what you saw.”

 

Katniss gaped at her. “What good reason could there be for that?”

 

“I don’t know. I mean I know I’ve heard of friends that kiss each other sometimes. Not in like a ‘friends with benefits’ kind of way, more of a ‘congratulations’ or ‘thank you’ type of thing. Just little pecks,” Madge answered. 

 

Katniss was sure she looked like a fish out of water with her mouth hanging open. “Madge...seriously?”

 

“What? I’m not saying it's a common thing. All I’m saying is I know people who do it. I know we’re not those type of people, but maybe this girl is.” Madge shrugged. “It’s possible, that’s all I’m saying. It’s not like you saw them making out or anything, right?”

 

“Well...no. But who does that? It’s like me going up to Gale and just kissing him. That’s weird.”

 

Jo laughed. “Of course,  _ that  _ would be weird. You and Gale are two of the most guarded people I know. It’s a personality thing. Maybe Madge is right, maybe she isn’t. But I know you. And you like him, or more accurately, you’re attracted to him. I’ve seen you. Watching him when you think no one’s looking, especially when he’s sketching up our ideas.”

 

Katniss scowled, but didn’t make eye contact with her. Jo was right. Katniss was still attracted to him, maybe even more so since that night in the bar. But that’s what confused her so much. At first, it had just been a physical attraction, but in the past month her mind had become a jumbled mess when it came to Peeta Mellark. He seemed so sweet and kind, and he was super talented. His sketches were the most amazing pieces of art she had ever seen. It’s like they were two separate people in her mind—the cheater who she couldn’t stand and the amazing artist who was kind, sweet and funny. Her mind couldn’t reconcile the two, which pissed her off to no end. 

 

She sighed, “Can we please stop talking about this? I just want to enjoy tonight and this weekend with my friends and not have to think or worry about work...or anyone from work.” She turned to each of her friends, giving them imploring looks. She really didn’t want to think about Peeta anymore. It was giving her a headache. 

 

Both of her friends nodded, and she let out a sigh of relief. “Thank you. So what do you want to watch?”

* * *

 

Their meeting Monday morning had gone perfectly. Katniss couldn’t be happier. The managers were thrilled with their progress and loved the ideas they had come up with so far. They were even on track to finish the project earlier than expected. 

 

“That went pretty well, don’t you think?” Peeta’s voice startled her. She looked around, quickly realizing they were very much alone in the conference room. How did that happen?

 

She nodded and continued to pick up her notes. “Yeah, it did.”

 

“You know, I never said anything, but your idea for a dandelion as part of the new logo was genius. Especially with the campaign you and Johanna have thought up to go along with it. The managers seemed pretty impressed too.”

 

Katniss stared at him. She wasn’t sure what to make of his compliment, but nevertheless she could feel the blush rising in her cheeks. Luckily, her darker complexion hid most of it from his eyes. “Thanks,” she muttered. “But your design really makes it. You’re an amazing artist.”

 

He beamed at her, but before he could say anything else, Finnick barged back into the room. “Well, kids, I think that went exceedingly well, don’t you? Lunch is on me today. And there’s Jo, so the gang’s all here. Let’s go, I’m starving.” She could see Peeta looking at her, but she averted her eyes as she finished packing up her things and followed Finnick from the room. She internally groaned. So much for trying to ignore Peeta and not confusing herself any more than she already was. What was she thinking, complimenting him? Never mind the truth she felt in her statement, she shouldn’t have encouraged him. She vowed to herself then and there, she wouldn’t be left alone with him again. Because clearly she lost her reserve when he was around.

 

The week passed quickly, and before she knew it Friday had arrived. The group had spent the week brainstorming ideas for print and TV ads to go along with the new logo. Katniss was working on the pitch to correspond with ad ideas, while Peeta and Finnick were huddled around Peeta’s sketch for one of the print ads. Jo was already gone for the day because she had an appointment. 

 

Katniss was so consumed in her work she startled when she heard her name.

 

Finnick was standing in the doorway with his bag on his shoulder. He grinned at her, fully aware he had startled her. “Goodnight, Katniss. Have a good weekend.” He gave a final wave to Peeta and left the room. Katniss looked at the clock on her computer, surprised to realize it was already almost seven in the evening. She also quickly realized she was very much alone with the one person she had decided she didn’t want to be alone with. A quick glance in his direction proved that he was back to sketching with a look of intense concentration on his face. 

 

Katniss started quickly and quietly packing up her things. She had done more than enough this week and was actually ahead of schedule, so there was absolutely no reason for her to hang around. 

 

However, in her haste to pack up, she knocked over her purse and spilled the contents on the floor underneath her chair. She was on the ground picking everything up when she heard him speak. “You heading out too?”

 

She looked up at him, blindly groping for anything still left on the floor, before standing up. “Yeah. I didn’t realize how late it was.” She gathered all of her things in her arms and tried to make a casual, hasty retreat out of the room. “Have a good weekend,” she called over her shoulder as she exited. 

 

She heard him reply in kind as she breathed a sigh of relief. Hopefully, she hadn’t been too obvious in her retreat, but she didn’t trust herself around him. As she approached her car in the nearly empty parking garage she reached into her bag for her keys, but couldn’t find them. She placed all her bags on the trunk of her car and started rummaging through them. Damn it, where were her keys? And suddenly she knew exactly where they wereーon the floor in the conference room. She groaned and dropped her head on her bags. She was going to have to go back up there. 

 

Deciding it was best not to delay the inevitable, she gathered her bags again and headed back inside. Berating herself the entire way back to the conference room, she almost didn’t hear his voice coming from inside the room. She stopped in her tracks just outside the conference room to listen.

 

“Why are we discussing this  _ again _ ?...But we’ve been over this a million times. I don’t caー,” Peeta groaned. He was silent for several moments, clearly listening to whatever the person on the other end of the phone had to say. Katniss was debating when she should go in to interrupt his conversation when he spoke again. “Fine...I said okay. I’ll be there...Yes, at the house, even though I still don’t understand why you care so much...Fine. Bye.” Katniss heard him sigh rather loudly, but figured now was as a good time as any to go get her keys.

 

She peeked around the door and saw that he had his face in his hands. Maybe she would be able to get her keys without him even seeing her. She was always the best at sneaking up on people. Came from years of hunting with her father. She quietly creeped into the room and made it all the way to her keys lying on the floor. Unfortunately for her, her keys rattled as she picked them up, and Peeta’s head shot up.

 

“Oh. You’re back.” His cheeks started to redden in embarrassment as he gazed at her. 

 

She nodded and waved her keys in front of her. “Yeah. My keys must have fallen out of my purse. Can’t exactly get home without them.” She stood there trying to decide if she should say anything, as it was clear he knew she had overheard at least part of his conversation. But after a moment of awkward silence she decided to leave. “Well...I’ll see you later.”

 

She was almost out the door when Peeta spoke, “Yeah. See ya.” He sounded so dejected. He and his girlfriend were obviously going through something that was taking its toll on him.

 

Against her better judgment, Katniss stopped and turned to face him again. “You know, every couple goes through rough patches. I’m sure you and your girlfriend will get through whatever this is.”

 

Peeta looked up at her, confusion clearly written across his face. “What? I don’t have a girlfriend. That was my mom. She’s been on my case lately about not coming home enough, not settling down, my career choice, and anything else she can find to bitch about.”

 

Katniss gaped at him. He didn’t have a girlfriend? Madge couldn’t possibly have been right, could she? “Wait, you don’t have a girlfriend?” she asked.

 

He shook his head. “Much to my mother’s chagrin, I assure you. What made you think I did? Because I can guarantee you I haven’t dated anyone in over a year. Hadn’t even hit on anyone in six months until...wellー” he waved his hand in her direction.

 

“But I sawー” she stopped herself. She couldn’t believe what he was saying. She knew what she had seen, but then again the doubt had been creeping into her mind ever since her conversation with Jo and Madge last week.

 

He raised his eyebrows. “What’d you see?”

 

She shifted on her feet, no longer able to look at him. She mumbled, “I saw you kiss her.”

 

“Kiss? You saw me kiss someone? I haven’t kissed anyone inー” he stopped suddenly, and she looked up at him. She saw the realization hit him, but she didn’t expect the smile that followed. He chuckled quietly. “You mean Delly?”

 

Katniss shrugged. She didn’t know who the girl was. All she knew is what she had seen.

 

“Blonde. With Finnick, Annie, and me the night we met at The Hob?” he questioned. She nodded. “Yeah...pretty sure I’m not Delly’s type.”

 

She gave him a questioning look before he elaborated, “Delly’s a lesbian. What you saw was her way of saying ‘thank you.’”

 

“So people actually do that? Just randomly kiss their friends,” she exclaimed. She’d never hear the end of it from Madge.

 

He nodded. “Delly does, at least. She’s very...exuberant. Hell, we’ve know each other since we were five. She’s practically my sister. She’d been pestering me to get the phone number of this girl who started working at my parents’ bakery a while back. I finally caved and got it for her. She gave me a kiss—well, really more of a peck—when I finally gave it to her. You must have impeccable timing, because it couldn’t have lasted longer than a second.”

 

She moved to the nearest chair and dropped herself into it. Everything made so much more sense now. He was no longer two people that she was trying to reconcile. He really was the nice, sweet, funny, talented guy she had been working with for the last month.

 

“So is this why you’ve been...I don’t know...kinda cold toward me since we met?” 

 

“Well...yeah. I thought you had a girlfriend, and then there you were hitting on me. I’m not a fan of cheaters,” she explained, glancing up at him before quickly looking back at the table, embarrassed.  

 

He chuckled. “Well, I can’t say I blame you for that one. At least now I know why you seemed to instantly dislike me.”

 

They lapsed into silence again. Katniss still couldn’t bring herself to look at him, but she sensed his eyes on her. 

 

“We should start over.” She finally looked up at him, and a sly smile slid across his face. “I mean, it would certainly make this whole project easier. We won’t have to tiptoe around each other as much.”

 

“Yeah...I guess we could do that,” she said slowly. 

 

That beaming smile of his was back. “So, friends?”

  
She nodded slowly, a small smile gracing her lips. “Friends.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you think! We've still gotta get Everlark past the friends stage so stay tuned :)


	3. Chapter 3

“We think we will be able to complete and present the final project by the end of the month, a couple weeks ahead of schedule,” Finnick told the managers.

 

Katniss had to admit the past two months had been much better than the first month of the project. Once she and Peeta had their talk, the group seemed to become even more cohesive, given that two of its members were no longer trying to interact as little as possible.

 

She clearly recalled the day she had told Jo and Madge about her revelations.

 

_She called both of the girls early that Saturday morning to see if they had wanted to have lunch at one of their favorite spots, Sae’s. Once they had ordered, Katniss had filled them in on what had transpired the night before and what Peeta had told her about the night they had met at The Hob._

 

_Jo had crassly asked whether or not the two of them had defiled the conference room table._

 

_“No, of course not! We’re just going to be friends,” Katniss exclaimed._

 

_Jo snorted, “Yeah, whatever you say, Brainless.” Katniss could do nothing but scowl because, if she were completely honest with herself, she was even more attracted to Peeta now than she had been before. The only thing giving her pause was the fact that she had worked so hard and certainly wasn't going to let a guyーalbeit a gorgeous, amazing guyーdistract her and ruin everything she had worked for. But it didn’t seem to matter because asking her out no longer seemed to be his goal. He had said ‘friends’ and had made no insinuations or allusions to still being attracted to her when they had talked after their pact. He had treated her the same as he treated Jo and Finnick...hell, even Mags._

 

_She turned to Madge for support but only saw her friend with a large grin on her face. “I. Was. Right.”_

 

_Katniss rolled her eyes. “Yes, you were. But I still contend that’s crazy. I mean honestly. And what else was I supposed to think?”_

 

_“I’m not saying I disagree with you. But I was still right,” Madge singsonged and continued grinning at her._

 

_“Sometimes I wonder why I’m even friends with you two?”_

 

Bringing her attention back to the meeting, she heard Haymitch say, “This presentation is a big deal for this group. Everyone is going to need to figure out their part in it, make sure you practice and it's all cohesive.” He glanced around the room and must have noticed the apprehension on their faces because he gruffly added, “I don't think any of that will be a problem though. You all have great ideas and know your stuff. So don't worry. But be prepared.”

 

As the meeting started to break up, Peeta, who had been sitting to Katniss’s left, leaned over and whispered, “He's not the best at pep talks, is he?”

 

Katniss chuckled under her breath. “No. Once, one of our colleagues was going skydiving because it was his girlfriend's birthday present, and he stupidly asked Haymitch for advice because he was pretty terrified about the whole thing. Haymitch just stared at him for a few seconds before saying ‘stay alive’ and walking off.”

 

Peeta laughed, and Katniss found herself staring at his eyelashes. She wasn’t sure how they didn’t get tangled up because of how long they were. It was almost mesmerizing. She had to physically shake herself out of her stupor, internally reprimanding herself. _Seriously_ , _his_ _eyelashes_. She couldn’t believe she now even found his eyelashes mesmerizing. There was something seriously wrong with her.  

 

She quickly glanced away, only to meet Jo's mischievous eyes instead. She scowled at her friend, whose grin only widened upon seeing her infamous scowl. Jo hadn't said much else about her and Peeta’s blossoming friendship, but she was constantly giving Katniss knowing looks and, what's worse, Finnick seemed to be joining the knowing look club. She had caught the two on more than one occasion, especially recently, whispering and glancing at her or Peeta. She didn't know what exactly they were talking about or planning, but she didn't like the looks they kept throwing her and Peeta.

 

Peeta, on the other hand, didn't seem to noticeーor careーabout whatever their best friends seemed to be plotting.

 

“So, lunch today at the food trucks?” Peeta’s voice snapped Katniss's attention away from Jo. On Tuesdays, a group of food trucks gathered near their office building, and it had become their habit over the past two months to get food there and then hang outside to enjoy their lunch break. Sometimes the others joined them, although recently more often than not it was just the two of them. Jo and Finnick always conveniently came up with excuses as to why they couldn’t join them or mysteriously disappeared right before lunch.

 

They never talked about work during these breaks but always discussed their lives outside of the office. Katniss had told him about Prim, and she had learned he was the youngest of three boys. She had told him that she learned archery from her father but didn't go out nearly as much since his death. He told her he found his love for design from his parents’ bakery, where he would always decorate the cakes. It had become one of the highlights of Katniss’s weeks, and she always looked forward to Tuesdays now because of it.

 

“Sure. It's Tuesday, isn't it? Wanna check with Finnick and Jo?”

 

Peeta nodded and headed over to Finnick while Katniss finished packing up her stuff.

 

“Finnick said he already has plans, and I don't know where Jo is,” Peeta said, walking back up to her. Katniss glanced around the room and noticed they were the only ones left in the room. “Guess it's just the two of us...again.” Peeta smiled at her.

 

There was something so infectious about his smile she couldn’t help smiling back, even though her suspicion that Jo and Finnick were purposely leaving the two of them on their own for these lunches was all but becoming a fact at this point.

* * *

 

They settled down in the small park adjacent to their building with their food, neither saying much as they dug in. Katniss was halfway through her first taco when she felt Peeta’s eyes on her. She turned with the taco halfway to her mouth. “What?”

 

“You know, you should really try something other than those lamb tacos. These trucks have some of the best food in the city, and you have been getting those same tacos for weeks now.”

 

She looked sheepishly down at her food. “I can't help it, they’re so good.” She paused, debating internally with herself. “It reminds me of my father.” She glanced over at him. His face was open and welcoming but didn't hold the pity she hated seeing from others.

 

While they had become very good friends over the past few months, the topic of her father had never been fully discussed. She had told him he had died when she was still a kid and that he was the one who had taught her archery, but she rarely mentioned much else about him. She hadn't told him about how he died or the ramifications his death had held for her and her sister.

 

She took a deep breath before continuing, “Right before he died, we had this big celebration dinner because he had gotten a promotion at work. We didn't have a whole lot of money back then, so this promotion was a big deal and he had gone all out. He made this lamb stew that was an old family recipe but we rarely had because of the cost of the ingredients. For 12-year-old me, it was the most fantastic thing I had ever eaten.”

 

She shrugged, trying to lighten what had become a very heavy moment. “These tacos remind me of that stew. The flavors and seasoning. I guess I just can't help wanting to get them. I tried to make the stew once. It was a disaster. Even with the recipe it didn't come close. These tacos are the next best thing. You know, the only thing that would have made that stew better would be some of those cheese buns of yours.” She grinned over at him.

 

“Well, my buns do make everything better,” he said, chuckling softly at his own joke.

 

Katniss only shook her head and lightly shoved his arm. “You are such a dork sometimes. Why am I friends with you again?” She had to admit he always knew exactly what she needed, and after that conversation she needed someone to lighten the mood.

 

“Because I am charming, dashingly good-looking, and keep you in all the cheese buns you want.”

 

“Well, I don't know about those first two, but that last one is definitely worth it.”

 

He simply smiled, and they quietly went back to eating. After a few moments, Peeta spoke again, “If you ever wanted me to, I would love to try and make that stew. It sounds delicious—  but only if you wanted me to. I don’t want to step on any toes. And hey, I would even supply some cheese buns to go along with it.”

 

She smiled sweetly at him. That was so like him. That sweet, caring guy she’d fought those first few months. “Yeah, I think that could work. Maybe once the project is over and we have some more free time.”

 

“Great. It's a date.”

 

Katniss internally started. A date? Did he mean like a real date? Or was it just a saying? She shook her head, trying to clear those thoughts from it. There was no use thinking about that. He hadn't made any sort of indication that he thought of her as more than a friend in the past few months...not since that night at the bar. He obviously didn't mean a real date. She smiled tightly at him, and they went back to eating. It wasn't long before Peeta started to tell her about this awful horror flick Finnick had dragged him to the prior weekend.

* * *

 

The weeks passed quickly, and before Katniss knew it, it was a couple days before their presentation. She hadn't had much time in those weeks to think _too much_ of her growing feelings for the blonde, blue-eyed graphic designer except to acknowledge that they were definitely there.  She tried not to dwell or think on them too much, and luckily the project had brought a nice distraction. Unfortunately, Jo had cornered her two weeks ago after a late night and asked her bluntly about her feelings for Peeta.

 

_“So, you definitely want to bone the designer, don't you?” Jo questioned, blocking Katniss’s only exit out of the conference room._

 

_“What?...No, of course notーYou're talking crazy,” she sputtered._

 

_Jo’s grin widened. “Please. Anyone with two braincells to rub together could see you both are thinking about what the other looks like without their clothes on.”_

 

 _“You're craーwait,_ both _?”_

 

_She started laughing. “Geez, sometimes you really earn that nickname I gave you. Yes, both of you. That boy so obviously has a hard on for you. I think you’re the only one who can't see it. Then again, he seems just as clueless as you. Can't see that you are practically throwing yourself at him.”_

 

_“I. Am. Not.”_

 

_Jo waved away her comment. “By your standards you are. But the question is, why haven't you done anything about it?”_

 

_Katniss sat down in the closest chair and sighed. Jo, sensing her victory, sat down next to her and waited._

 

_“He hasn't shown any interest or made a move. And you know I'm never one to make the first move.”_

 

_“But think about it from his perspective. You guys didn't exactly get off to the best start. You did turn him down, after all.”_

 

_“But we talked about that. It was because I thought he was a cheater.”_

 

 _“Yeah, but he doesn't know you would have jumped his bones that night had it not been for that misunderstanding. Maybe he thinks_ you _just want to be friends. He's the type that wouldn't do anything to jeopardize that. You're gonna have to buck up and make a move._ Some _kind of move. Let him know you’re interested in being more than friends.”_

 

_Katniss sighed and laid her head on the table._

 

_“At least think about it. Maybe you should talk to Prim. She's always been good with this kind of thing. My advice would be to just jump him, but I know that's not really your style. Maybe Prim will have some insights.”_

 

She had talked to Prim. Told her everything. The whole story. Prim hadn't been much more help than Jo. She had told Katniss the same thing...to make a move already.

 

So, while she had been trying not to think about her attraction to Peeta, she couldn't help but analyze everything he did. Looking for any signs that he wanted more than friendship from her. Granted, she was horrible at the whole relationship thing and was admittedly clueless when it came to the opposite sex. She had only had two short-lived relationships in college and a handful of dates, most of which Madge had set her up on.

 

It had never been her priority and still wasn't. She had been wracking her brain, trying to see what Jo saw, but she thought Peeta treated her like everybody else. Sure, he talked to her more than some of the others, but that was because they had become such good friends— not because of any lingering attraction.

 

Needless to say, between the project and the Peeta situation, her brain never really shut off. Hopefully, once the project wrapped, things would be a bit clearer. She wouldn't see him on a daily basis anymore, but she hoped they would at least continue their friendship. She had come to depend on him, and outside of her closest friends, he was the only other person she felt she could really open up to. He had somehow wormed his way into her circle of closest confidants.

 

She looked over at him now. He was bent over his tablet scribbling on its surface, no doubt putting the final touches on his designs that would be the centerpiece of their presentation. She turned back to her portion of the presentation and continued her work, trying to put it all out of her mind.

 

A few hours later, she and Peeta were once again alone in the conference room. She glanced around the room and caught his eye.

 

He grinned. “Why is it that we seem to be the only two who are actually working?”

 

She laughed. While that wasn’t entirely true, it was true that they both would get so wrapped up in whatever they were doing that they would completely lose track of time—which meant they were often the last ones left in the conference room at the end of the day.

 

“Well, I think I’m done for the night. What about you? Ready to call it a day?” he asked.

 

She looked over her work, which was pretty much done, because if she were completely honest with herself, she had just been hoping to get a bit more time with Peeta. “Yeah, let me pack up my stuff, and I’ll be ready.”

 

She finished gathering her stuff and found Peeta standing a few feet away, already packed and ready to go, with his bag thrown over his shoulder and a small smile on his face. She returned his smile as they started out.

 

“Are you ready for Friday?” she asked.

 

He shrugged. “About as ready as I’ll ever be. Presentations like this always make me nervous.”

 

“Please, you could charm the pants off of anyone you met. You’re probably the best speaker I’ve ever heard. Me, on the other hand, I always sound like a bumbling idiot during these things.”

 

“Well, I couldn’t charm the pants off of _everyone_ I’ve met.” His emphasis didn’t go unnoticed by Katniss, and she had to mentally slap herself for her comment. She wasn’t even thinking when she’d said it.

 

They stopped next to her car, and she finally turned to look at him. She had expected one of his infamous grins or maybe a look of embarrassment, but she wasn’t expecting what she actually saw. His pupils were slightly dilated, and the expression on his face was something she couldn’t quite place. She had become pretty familiar with his face over the past couple months but this expression...this was something she hadn’t seen before. There was almost a hunger in his eyes.  

 

He appeared to be debating something, and the air became charged between them the longer they stared at each other. It reminded her of the night they had met and she had first seen him across the bar. She had the sudden intense urge to reach up and kiss him. And for a crazy second, she thought he was going to kiss her. That maybe, just maybe, she wasn’t imagining his face moving toward hers.

 

Then the moment was ruined when an ambulance went wailing by. She jumped back into the side of her car and looked up at him. He was rubbing the back of his neck with his hand, a worried expression on his face. When he saw her looking at him, he gave her a tight smile and said, “I wouldn’t worry if I were you. You’ve put a lot into this, and it shows when you talk about it. You’ll do great. Well...I’ll see you tomorrow. Have a good night, Katniss.”

 

With that, he walked away toward his car on the other side of the garage. Katniss stared after him, trying to remember what they had even been talking about before. She reached behind her, blindly groping for the car door handle before finally turning around and unlocking the door to climb in.

 

She hadn’t imagined it. He _was_ going to kiss her.

 

Wasn’t he?

* * *

 

Thursday night found the entire team gathered in the conference room practicing their presentation for the next day. Katniss and Peeta hadn’t discussed what had happened the night before. In fact, Peeta had pretended like nothing at all had happened, thoroughly confusing her. Maybe she had imagined it, but she didn’t think so. She needed to talk to someone, and Jo seemed like the best candidate. But there hadn’t been any time to get her alone to ask, as the group had spent the majority of the day fine-tuning their slides and handouts and dedicating the last few hours to practicing their presentation as a team.  

 

“That was perfect. I think we’re all ready for tomorrow’s presentation,” Finnick stated, looking around at everyone in the room. “Therefore, I think we should all go out for a celebratory drink. The Hob?”

 

“Hold up there, Finn. Don’t you think the celebratory drink should wait until _after_ the presentation,” Peeta replied.

 

“As much as I hate it, I have to agree with Peeta. We wouldn’t want to be hungover tomorrow,” Jo agreed.

 

“Killjoys,” Finnick laughed. “Alright, alright, you guys are right. But tomorrow night, all of your calendars need to be clear, because we are going to be going out to celebrate. Since we are going to rock this presentation tomorrow.”  

 

Katniss smiled at Finnick’s enthusiasm. He had been the perfect leader, and she was actually going to miss working with him when this wrapped tomorrow. She heard the telltale buzz of her phone vibrating in her purse. Since they were done with their meeting and the others had devolved into their own conversations, she reached down to answer the phone.

 

The phone had stopped vibrating by the time she had fished it out of her purse. She noticed she had five missed calls from Rory and three texts from him as well. While she tried to figure out why Rory would be calling her, the phone lit up in her hand. Rory again.

 

“Rory? What’s wrong?” Katniss answered.

  
“Katniss. Thank god. There was an accident. Prim’s hurt. She’s in surgery at Panem Memorial. You’ve got to get down here. Now.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you thought! Only one chapter left plus the epilogue.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please note, I'm a CPA not a medical profession so please excuse any inaccuracies. I basing this off the little bit of research I did and TV, to be completely honest. And a short stay my mom had in the hospital a couple years ago.

Katniss wasn’t entirely sure how she got to the hospital. She vaguely remembered telling the others about her phone call as she rushed around trying to find her keys. She remembered getting into an argument with Jo when her friend refused to let her drive herself and instead said she would drive her. She remembered finally relenting because all she could think about was how much time she was wasting when all she really needed to do was get to Prim as soon as possible. She remembered finding Rory in the waiting room and demanding any updates he had. She remembered him telling her he didn’t know much other than that Prim’s car had been t-boned by someone who ran a stop sign. He had said something about a punctured lung and emergency surgery, but at that point Katniss couldn’t bear to stand anymore, so she had sunk into a chair and hadn’t moved since. She vaguely recalled Rory sitting down next to her and a muttered conversation between him and Jo. 

 

It felt like it had been hours...days, really, since Rory had called, but from glancing at the clock on the wall, she realized it had only been an hour. One measly hour. She glanced around and saw that Jo had disappeared. But she couldn’t find it in herself to question where her friend had gone. She turned to Rory and saw he was biting his fingernails. It was a nervous habit of his, and somehow it calmed her marginally. She was still terrified beyond belief and refused to even think about the worst possible scenario. But seeing Rory reminded her that her sister was loved by more than her, and whether they wanted to be or not, she and Rory were in this together.

 

She turned back to the clock—only two minutes had passed. She huffed and leaned back in her chair. 

 

The sound of footsteps made her head snap up, but it was only Jo coming toward them with two cups and her cell phone in her hand. She handed them the cups of coffee and turned to Katniss, “I called Haymitch and told him what happened.” Katniss started. She had completely forgotten about the presentation tomorrow morning. While she knew she was exactly where she should be, where she  _ needed  _ to be, there was a small corner of her mind that was worried about what was going to come out of Jo’s mouth next. “He said to not worry about anything at work. And I’ve got your part of the presentation covered, so don’t worry about that. But make sure you update us once you know something, okay?”

 

Katniss nodded but couldn’t bring herself to say anything. In a random and unexpected show of affection, she grabbed Jo’s hand and gave it a brief squeeze, trying to convey everything she couldn’t bring herself to say at the moment. 

 

Jo gave her a genuine smile. “Call or text the moment you know something or if you need anything. Anything at all.”

 

She nodded once more before she watched Jo walk out of the waiting room. All she had to do now was wait.

* * *

 

What felt like days later, a doctor finally walked into the waiting room. He scanned the room quickly before landing on Katniss and Rory and making his way over to them. They both jumped from their chairs and blindly reached for each other's hands. Katniss was sure she was cutting off his circulation, but she needed something to ground her in that moment, and she had a feeling he did too.

 

“Are you Primrose Everdeen’s family?”

 

“Yes. I’m her sister. Is she okay? Can we see her?” The words tumbled out of her mouth so quickly that she wasn’t sure if she was even understandable.

 

The doctor smiled. “She’s fine.” He pointed back to the chairs, and the three of them sat down. “When she first came in, we were worried she had punctured her lung because she seemed to be having trouble breathing. When we got in there the puncture was much smaller than expected. We were able to fix it relatively easily, and the recovery should be much smoother because of it. There is still going to be quite a bit of recovery between the lung, the fractured ribs, and the broken leg, but she’ll live and should eventually be back to 100%.”

 

Katniss breathed a sigh of relief. She wasn’t sure what she would have done if she had lost Prim. For so long, Prim was the only person she was certain she loved. Slowly, a few others had wormed their way into her heart but none of them were Prim. She was fairly certain she would absolutely fall apart if she’d lost Prim. 

 

“When can we see her?” Rory asked.

 

“She’s being moved to Recovery right now, and she’ll be pretty out of it for a while, but you could at least see her for a few moments in Recovery. Then, once they move her to a room, we’ll be sure to let you know.” The doctor stood to leave. “I’ll have someone from Recovery come get you as soon as you can see her.”

 

“She’s going to be okay,” Rory muttered beside her, putting his head in his hands.

 

“She’s going to be okay,” Katniss repeated. “Thank god.”

 

About an hour later, a nurse appeared to take them into the recovery room. “She’s not really going to be up to talking, and she’s pretty out of it still, but you can sit with her for a few minutes.”

 

As they walked into Recovery, Katniss immediately zeroed in on Prim lying on the other side of the room. She looked so small. She was connected to all sorts of machines that Katniss couldn’t identify, but she heard the telltale beep of the heart monitor reminding her that her sister was still alive and would be fine. 

 

They each moved to either side of her bed, and Rory reached out for Prim’s hand. He leaned down close to her ear and started whispering to her. Katniss couldn’t make out what he was saying, but she figured it wasn’t her place to know. She grabbed her sister’s other hand and simply held on. The warmth radiating from it served as one more reminder that her sister was still alive. 

 

The ten minutes they’d been allowed seemed to fly by, and then the nurse was telling them they needed to leave. “She’ll be moved to a room before morning. In the meantime, you two should go home and get some rest. She’s in good hands.”

 

They both nodded as they left the room. 

 

“I think I’m going to run home. Maybe try and get an hour or two of sleep and get some stuff for Prim. You know, to try and make the hospital room seem not so...hospitaly. That’s not a word, is it? Lord, I’m tired. But I guess with it being two in the morning that’s understandable,” Rory said. 

 

Katniss nodded in agreement before suddenly realizing she didn’t have her car with her. “Do you mind taking me by my office? I don’t have my car. Jo drove me here. It shouldn’t be too far out of your way.” 

 

“Not a problem. Let’s go.”

 

She turned to him as he pulled in beside her car. “I’ll call the hospital in the morning to see where they moved her, and I’ll let you know. I don’t know how much actual sleep I’ll be getting tonight.”

 

“Works for me. I was planning on heading back there by seven anyways.”

 

She nodded, opening the door and getting out of the car. She leaned back down and said, “I’ll see you in the morning.”

 

“Yeah. Goodnight.”

 

Katniss shut the door and moved sluggishly toward her car. She somehow made it home in one piece and then remembered she hadn’t checked her phone in hours. She had several texts, mostly from Jo, Gale, and Madge, but she also had a few from Peeta. She saw Finnick and Haymitch in there too.

 

She opened the ones from Jo first.

 

**Jo [8:16 pm]: I completely forgot about your car. I can move it for you if you want. I’ll call Madge or get one of the guys to help me. We can bring it to the hospital or take it home for you.**

**Jo [8:17 pm]: Just let me know. I’ll do whatever I can to help.**

**Jo [8:20 pm]: And don’t forget, the minute you know something. And call if you need anything. ANYTHING.**

 

Katniss smiled at her phone. For all of her abrasiveness, Jo could be a real softy when she needed to be. She quickly typed out a message, giving her an update and telling her not to worry about her car, that Rory had taken her to get it before going home.

 

She scrolled through the other texts, quickly firing off texts to Gale and Madge with updates as well. She hovered over Peeta’s name for a moment before opening the texts to see what he had said.

 

**Peeta [9:36 pm]: I just wanted to check in and see if you knew anything.**

**Peeta [9:37 pm]: If you need anything and I do mean** **_anything_ ** **please let me know.**

**Peeta [9:40 pm]: I’m not opposed to midnight cheese bun runs if that’s what you need. :)**

 

She couldn’t help the smile that spread across her face. He really was the sweetest. She sat there for a moment trying to decide how best to respond. 

 

**Katniss [2:28 am]: Well considering it’s well after midnight I’m assuming that cheese bun run is no longer on the table. :) Prim is fine. The doctor expects her to make a full recovery. I’m going to try and get a couple hours sleep before going back tomorrow morning.**

**Katniss [2:29 am]: Oh and knock ‘em dead tomorrow morning…or this morning. Whatever. Just knock ‘em dead.**

 

She cringed slightly at that last text before deciding it didn’t really matter. She set her alarm for six and threw herself onto her bed, willing herself to have a dreamless sleep.

* * *

 

When her alarm started blaring a few short hours later, she realized she had indeed had a dreamless sleep. She had been so exhausted she’d been asleep before she had even hit the pillow. She rolled out of bed and called the hospital. After getting all of the information, she texted Rory and decided to take a shower before heading back to the hospital.

 

As she was climbing out of the shower, she heard her phone ping with an incoming message. She braided her wet hair as she walked over to where her phone laid on her bed. Her heart sped up when she read Peeta’s name on the phone screen. Tying her hair off, she reached down to pick up the phone.

 

**Peeta [6:21 am]: For you the cheese bun run is never off the table :)**

**Peeta [6:21 am]: I’m glad Prim is ok. And don’t you worry about the presentation this morning. Like you said I could charm the pants off of anyone :)**

 

**Katniss [6:22 am]: Never off the table? Well then. You don’t know what kind of monster you’ve created ;)**

**Katniss [6:22 am]: And while we all know your charming ways, maybe try not to actually charm their pants off. I mean do you really want to see Haymitch without his pants on?**

 

She cringed at her weak attempt at flirting. A winky face? Really? Did it get more cliché than that? She was about to close out of the text when she saw that he was typing.

 

**Peeta [6:23 am]: WHY? Why do you put these visuals in my head?**

**Peeta [6:24 am]: And that doesn’t sound like a monster at all. I will gladly keep you in cheese buns as long as you allow me ;)**

 

She smiled at the text. At least if she was cliché, so was he. She threw the phone back on her bed before heading to her closet to get clothes to wear. She was halfway there when she stopped. Did that mean he was flirting with her too? Maybe that was an almost kiss the other night. She shook her head. Now was not the time to figure that out. But she swore to herself that once Prim was better, she would make her move.

* * *

 

When she got to the hospital, Rory was already there in Prim's room. Katniss immediately noticed her stuffed orange cat laying on the bed next to her. It appeared, though, that Prim was still sleeping. 

 

“You really had to bring that thing?” Katniss whispered, pointing to the stuffed animal. 

 

Rory glanced up at her. “It's her favorite, you know that.”

 

“But it's dirty and you brought it into the hospital. One of the cleanest places in the world.”

 

“I washed it, if you must know.” He looked back over at Prim, smiling as he reached up to brush the hair off her shoulder. “We were thinking of getting a real one. In fact, I had started scouring shelters trying to find a cat that looked exactly like that one. Found one too. Was going to give it to her for her birthday next week.”

 

“I think I'll name him Buttercup.” A voice suddenly rasped. Both Katniss and Rory jumped before turning toward the bed. Prim's eyes opened, and she had a small smile on her face that turned to a grimace when she shifted on the bed. 

 

“What the hell happened? I feel like I've been hit by a Mack truck.”

 

Rory quickly explained what happened and everything the doctor had told them the night before. Katniss moved to the side of the bed and took hold of her sister’s hand. Prim looked over at her as Rory stopped talking. 

 

“You scared me to death, Little Duck. Don't ever do that again,” she whispered, squeezing Prim's hand. 

 

Prim smiled once more and rasped out, “I'll try not to.”

* * *

 

The next two days passed fairly quickly. Prim had a steady stream of visitors, while Rory and Katniss rarely left her side. One of them was always there with her. 

 

Jo, Gale, and Madge had come by Friday afternoon. Jo had told her all about the presentation and how well it went. She said the executives loved the design and campaign they had come up with. She also mentioned that Peeta had been very adamant that, although she wasn't there, she was a large reason the project had gone so smoothly and that the design was her idea to begin with. And that, as such, Katniss deserved a lot of credit. 

 

Katniss smiled when Jo told her, and she finally found a quick minute to tell her about the night in the parking garage as well. Jo had responded, “So, do you believe me now? The guy definitely has it bad for you.”

 

Peeta had also texted her after the presentation to ask how Prim was doing and to tell her that they loved the design. They continued to text back and forth all day Friday and Saturday. Katniss couldn't help but think that maybe Jo was right. Maybe Peeta did want her as much as she wanted him. 

 

As Katniss walked through the hospital Sunday morning, she analyzed, for the fiftieth time, all the text exchanges between Peeta and herself in the past forty-eight hours. She knew she was overanalyzing everything, but she couldn't seem to stop herself. 

 

As she entered Prim's room, she saw Rory asleep in the chair next to her sister’s bed. His arm was lying on the bed at an odd angle. She assumed they had fallen asleep holding hands, and she smiled at the scene. She was so happy her sister had found Rory. She thought no one would ever love her sister as much as she did, but Rory was certainly giving her a run for her money. 

 

She walked over and shook Rory awake. Blearily, he opened his eyes to look up at her. He grimaced as he moved his arm, clearly in pain from the way he slept the night before. 

 

“You should head home. Try to get some real sleep. In a real bed. I can sit with her this morning.”

 

He looked back over at Prim, indecision all over his face. 

 

“Rory. She'll be fine. I looked after her for half my life. I think I can handle one morning.” She smiled at him encouragingly. 

 

“You're right. I'm exhausted. It would be nice to sleep in a real bed for a couple hours.”

 

“Then go. We'll be fine.”  

 

Rory stood and kissed Prim on the forehead before waving goodbye to Katniss and leaving the room. Katniss sat in his vacated seat, pulling out her book to while away some time before Prim woke up. 

 

Half an hour hadn’t passed before she heard Prim's raspy voice. “I see you somehow convinced Rory to leave. Or is he just in the restroom?”

 

“No. I did indeed convince him to go home and get some rest...in a real bed. I told him I could watch after you for at least the morning. It was practically my job growing up, after all.”

 

Prim smiled sadly at her. Katniss, wanting to change the subject, asked how she was feeling. 

 

“Not too bad, but that's probably the pain medicine talking. Still feel like I was hit by a truck, but maybe a regular one instead of a Mack.”

 

The sisters spent the next few hours catching up, only stopping when a nurse would come in or when all the talking would become too much for Prim. 

 

During one of these breaks, Katniss checked her text messages and answered one of Peeta's.

 

“You know, we haven't discussed one of the most important things.” Prim's voice broke into her thoughts. 

 

“And what's that?” Katniss asked, putting her phone away. 

 

“Peeta.”

 

“Peeta? What about him?” Katniss exclaimed, feeling busted. 

 

“What do you mean what about him? He's clearly the one putting that smile on your face. Don't even try to tell me he wasn't the one you were texting just now.”

 

Katniss' face dropped instantly into a scowl. Prim laughed. “So did you make your move?”

 

“No. I'm still not sure there's even a move to be made.”

 

“Please. From everything you and Jo have told me, there is definitely a move that needs to be made.”

 

Katniss’ jaw dropped open. “You've talked to Jo about this?”

 

Prim looked a tiny bit sheepish at this. “Well...yes. But it's only because we want you to be happy. Katniss, you've spent so much of your life taking care of everyone else that you've never taken the time to take care of yourself. Make yourself happy. For once put yourself first.”

 

“I am happy.”

 

“But he could make you happier.”

 

Katniss simply smiled at her sister. “I'll think about it.”

 

Prim beamed at her. “That's all I ask. You know, I'm getting pretty tired. Mind if I take a nap?”

 

“Of course not. Maybe once you wake up it will be time to eat.”

 

Prim nodded before laying back and shutting her eyes. Katniss pulled out her book to pass the hours until lunch. 

 

It was nearing lunch when she heard the knock at the door. She glanced up, surprised to see who had knocked. 

 

“Peeta? What are you doing here?” Katniss whispered, getting up and moving across the room to him. 

 

He looked at the bed, noticing Prim was asleep before whispering, “I didn't want to disturb you guys, but I brought you all lunch.” He motioned to the bags in his hands. That's when Katniss noticed the distinct smell of cheese buns wafting from the brown paper bag he was holding. 

 

Her heart swelled. “You didn't have to do that.”

 

He waved her comment away. “I know I didn't have to. I wanted to.” He walked over to the table in the corner of the room and set the bags down. “I brought you some cheese buns and...well, I hope you don't mind, but I made that lamb stew you told me about too.”

 

Katniss’ face must have displayed her shock because Peeta quickly explained, “Prim gave me the recipe earlier this week. I wanted to surprise you with it this week since the project was going to be over. I was hoping you would still want to get together for lunch on Tuesdays, and I was going to surprise you with the stew. I know it's crazy, but I wanted to do something nice for you. But then all this happened and I figured you might like some comfort food. It's probably not as good as your dad's but—”

 

He was abruptly cut off when Katniss threw herself at him. She wound her arms around his neck before attaching her lips to his. He responded almost immediately, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her closer. His lips were soft but firm as he met her enthusiasm with his own. 

 

“It's about damn time,” Prim's voice broke in, causing Katniss and Peeta to jump apart. Katniss looked over at her sister, surprised to see her eyes open and a large grin on her face. She chanced a glance at Peeta and noticed his face was turning bright red. 

 

“This isn't exactly how I expected to finally meet you in person, Peeta, but it's nice to meet you nonetheless.”

 

Peeta cleared his throat a few times before finally saying, “Uhh...yeah. It's nice to meet you too, Prim.”

 

“Is that food? Oh! Is that those cheese buns my sister’s always raving about?”

 

“Yeah. And some of that lamb stew you gave me the recipe for.”

 

“Perfect. I'm starved. Is there enough for all of us? You're staying, right?”

 

“Uh…” He looked over at Katniss, clearly trying to see if it was okay with her. 

 

Katniss smiled shyly at him. “You should stay.” 

 

He beamed at her. “Great.” He started taking the food out of the containers. 

  
“Good. And once we’re done eating and Rory’s back, you two can go finish your make out session.” Katniss scowled at her. Prim laughed. “Nice to see the scowl will be sticking around.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Only the epilogue left! Which will be a tiny bit of smut most likely :) Let me know what you thought here or on tumblr!


	5. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wish I could say this was more than some light smut...but I can't. And I'm not sorry :) Also, a another side note, the majority of this chapter was written in the Las Vegas airport. It's a little weird writing smut in an airport.

Katniss blearily opened her eyes, trying to figure out what exactly had woken her before her alarm had gone off. The source of her wake up became abundantly clear when she felt the butterfly kisses being placed on her shoulder.

 

“Peeeeeta. What're you doing?” she mumbled into the pillow.

 

“Just giving my beautiful girlfriend a little wake up call,” he breathed against her shoulder, sending goosebumps down her arm. Just when she thought she couldn't want him any more than she already did.

 

The past six months had been amazing.

 

Prim was on the mend and was almost completely back to normal. Rory had proposed two weeks ago, and Prim was in full-blown bride mode. Katniss had spent two hours last night listening to her sister go on and on about floral arrangements, potential venues, and possible dress styles. She had only managed to get off the phone when Prim had realized she clearly wasn't paying attention due to Peeta raining kisses all along her neck. Prim had huffed good naturedly and said she would talk to her when she was less distracted. Katniss had made some noncommittal noise before hanging up and giving into his advances.

 

Oh, and Peeta. Since that day at the hospital, things between the two of them had been near perfect. They still fought as any couple did, but they always worked through whatever the issue was. Mostly because Peeta hated going to bed angry, especially at her.

 

She rolled over onto her back, and Peeta propped himself up on his elbow to look down at her. Reaching up, she weaved her hands through his hair. She absolutely loved his hair when he first woke up. His curls were always more disheveled and tousled than normal. Running her fingers through his hair had become one of her favorite things to do. He seemed to like it too. He would close his eyes and lean into her touch. Much like he was doing right now.

 

She smiled before bringing his lips down to meet hers. She immediately opened her mouth to him and sighed when his tongue met hers. She could kiss him for hours. The other guys she’d been with before Peeta, as limited in number as they were, had never made her feel the way he could with a simple kiss. He moved so he was on top of her, and she instinctively spread her legs to make room for him to settle in between them. She felt him hard and long as he pushed against her core. She didn't think she would ever tire of that feeling. He made her insatiable.

 

The sudden blast of her alarm broke them apart. Peeta reached over to turn off the alarm before laying his forehead against hers.

 

“We should probably get up,” she muttered, continuing to weave her fingers through his hair, lightly scratching the nape of his neck. The quiet moan that escaped his mouth about did her in.

 

“But I want to stay right here with you,” he replied. “Let's call in sick.”

 

“Peeta, you know we can't do that. You have that design presentation next week, and I'm working on that campaign that Haymitch wanted an update on today. But once today's over we have a three-day weekend that can be all oursーwell, except for when we go to Finn and Annie's wedding on Saturday. But Sunday…you, me, and this bed…maybe Monday too.”

 

He grinned. “I like the sound of that.” He leaned his head down to take her lips in his again, lightly nipping at her bottom lip before pulling away. She groaned, hating the loss of his lips on hers.

 

He chuckled. “You made this bedーnow you've got to lie in it.”

 

She scowled at him. Yes, they had to go to work today, but he had succeeded in completely turning her on, and from the look on his face he knew it. He grinned down at her with an innocent expression, but his eyes shone mischievously.

 

Two could play this game.

 

She lifted her pelvis, grinding herself against his hard cock. His expression immediately shifted from mischievous to what she could only describe as hungry.

 

“Katniss…” he groaned.

 

She moved one of her hands from his hair down his bare chest before lightly tracing his cock through his boxer briefs. He instinctively thrust himself into her hands at the contact.

 

She smiled to herself. “You know,” she started, continuing her light tracing, never giving him what he actually wanted. “We probably have time for a quickie.”

 

His eyes snapped open. They were dilated so much that she could barely see any of the brilliant blue peeking through.

 

He wasted no time in reaching down to pull her tank top up over her head and locking their mouths together in a bruising kiss. Katniss moaned into his mouth before moving to push his boxers off him. When he realized what she was doing he moved to help her, only breaking the kiss when necessary to get the offending piece of clothing off.

 

He sat back on his haunches, taking a moment to survey her before slowly running his hands down her sides, skimming her breasts before hooking his fingers into her underwear and pulling them down her body. His hand went immediately to her core, taking his finger and skimming along her slit. They both moaned simultaneously. She was seriously wet, and she couldn't take this teasing much longer.

 

“Peeta.” Her voice came out breathy. “This is suppose to be a quickie.”

 

He laughed, leaning down to cover her body with his. “Sorry. You know I love to worship this body of yours.” He moved his lips and began to suckle the sensitive point where her neck and shoulder met. She moved her head to the side to give him more room before reaching down and taking him in her hand. She stroked him and felt his moan against her neck.

 

She positioned him at her entrance and moved her hips so he slowly started to slip inside her. He took the initiative and pushed himself inside her till he was buried to the hilt. He didn't move immediately, his face still resting in the crook of her neck.

 

“Peeta, I need you to fuck me _now.”_

 

He groaned, pushing himself up to rest on his elbows. He gazed down at her before moving his hips so that he pulled almost completely out of her before slamming back into her welcoming heat. He started an almost punishing rhythm that had her eyes rolling back in her head.

 

She wasn't going to lie—sex with Peeta was pretty much the most amazing thing she had ever experienced. He could be gentle or rough. And he always seemed to be able to tell exactly what she needed, and if he didn't he wasn't afraid to ask.

 

“I'm not going to be able to hold out much longer. Are you close?” he asked, never stopping his rhythm.

 

Her voice didn’t seem to be working, so she could only nod. She could feel the tension building inside her.

 

“Touch yourself. Please, Katniss.”

 

She reached her hand down to where they were joined and slowly started to rub her clit. She felt the tension building even quicker. She knew it wasn't going to be long now—between Peeta’s punishing rhythm and her fingers, she could feel herself about to fall apart. And then the tension snapped inside her, her breathy moans pushing Peeta to his own release. He pushed into her a few more times before she felt him come.

 

As they came down from their respective highs, Peeta was conscious enough to not rest his entire weight on her. She felt him softening inside her as she ran her fingers along the muscles in his back, and he groaned into her shoulder at her touch. She glanced over at the alarm clock on the nightstand and sighed.

 

She didn't want to get up, but due to their little interlude they were going to have to hustle not to be late for work. “Looks like we might have to share the shower if we want to make it to work on time,” she said, continuing to rake her nails lightly over his back.

 

Peeta groaned again. He pushed himself back up enough so he could look down at her. “You're killing me, woman.”

 

“Hey. There will be no funny business. There was already funny business.”

 

He chuckled before finally moving off her and sitting on the edge of the bed. She slowly sat up and moved next to him.

 

“You know I have no control when you're all wet.” His mischievous eyes were back, and she hadn't missed his double entendre.

 

She rolled her eyes as she stood up and made her way to the bathroom. “Well, you're going to have to if we have any hope of getting to work by eight.”

 

She glanced over her shoulder at him and noticed he seemed to be in a trance staring at her backside. She shook her head. “You joining me?”

 

That seemed to get his attention, and his eyes snapped up to hers before a smile spread across his face. He nodded, getting off the bed as he moved toward her. Now she was in a trance as she took in the sight of his naked body.

 

“You still sticking to that no funny business rule?” He smirked as he reached her.

 

She scowled at him before turning and heading into the bathroom. She heard his laughter as she turned on the water. Then she felt his hands on her hips and felt his hardening member along her back. She sighed in contentment because, truth be told, she didn't have any self-control when it came to this man, and they both knew it.

* * *

 

When Katniss walked into the office at 9:02 am, Jo immediately caught her eye. Katniss tried to ignore the knowing look her friend was giving her. She set her stuff at her desk when she heard Jo’s voice behind her.

 

“Little late, aren't you?”

 

“I'm only two minutes late. We can get into the office anytime between seven and nine. And it's just now 9:02.”

 

Jo snorted. “That may be true, but _you_ never got to work later than eight. That is until these past few months.” She paused, giving Katniss a large grin. “At least tell me blondie gave it to you good this morning.”

 

Katniss felt the blush rising in her cheeks as she thought over her morning. First, the way he had taken her in bed, and then, even though she had said no funny business, she hadn't stopped him when he had gone down on her in the shower. She hadn't been able to help herself. That man knew how to use his mouth in more ways than one.

 

Jo’s loud laugh broke her out of her memories. “No need to tell me. It's written all over your face.” Katniss scowled at her friend, which only made Jo laugh harder. She turned away and headed back to her desk, still laughing. “Don't forget we’re having lunch with Finnick and your boy toy today.”

  
Katniss continued scowling at her friend’s back. She shook her head before she smiled to herself. She was happy. Work was amazing. Prim was getting married and almost back to 100%. She still saw her friends regularly. And she had Peeta. Prim was right all those months ago—he definitely made her happier.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for reading, reviewing, leaving kudos, reblogging, and liking! It definitely made me want to finish this. Thank you so so much! I love you all!

**Author's Note:**

> I would love to hear what you think! Let me know here or over on tumblr (I'm gobletgirl over there too)!


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